NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Congress is making it easier for more workers to save for retirement and create lifetime income. As America Saves Week kicks off on Feb. 24, Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is supporting our government’s call for retirement readiness by amplifying the role of the workplace in financial wellness.
Today’s retirement plans have made great strides in helping participants save and invest for retirement, but 6 in 10 Americans1 still do not have access to a retirement plan in the workplace. Further, many still fall short in helping workers convert their savings into a steady stream of income—the financial goal Americans worry about most.2 But the SECURE Act aims to change that. New commentary from Prudential Retirement President Yanela Frias explains how the law will help evolve defined contribution plans and improve retirement outcomes.
“This new legislation has two important components for employers and employees,” says Frias. “It increases access to retirement plans for small business and gig workers and enables features that help individuals generate retirement income that cannot be outlived. This not only emphasizes the need for improved retirement outcomes, but also creates new ways to design workplace plans to aid recruitment and retention.”
However, there’s another component to retirement readiness that the workplace is poised to lead: removing barriers to saving. Despite emphasis on access and lifetime income, if workers feel they don’t have the means to save, they won’t.
Americans are much more likely to save through their employer than on their own. The workplace has become one of the primary places in which people access offerings to enhance their financial security.
“Becoming financially well is no longer about just contributing to a retirement plan,” says Harry Dalessio, head of institutional retirement plan services at Prudential Retirement. “Employers offer so many tools and resources designed to help with student loans, money management and more. It’s important to take advantage of what is available.”
That’s why Prudential has invested in a mix of workplace financial wellness tools and capabilities to empower employees to save during all stages of their financial journey. This includes Prudential’s emergency savings feature for workplace 401(k) plans, which nearly two dozen employers will offer by this spring; debt management counseling service through GreenPath Financial Wellness, which will be available to all institutional employers in the second half of 2020; LINK by Prudential, an interactive, personalized resource that enables workers to identify their most important financial milestones and create a path toward achieving them; and Student Loan Assistance, an online resource offered by Vault, that allows employees to explore student loan consolidation and repayment options and provides a channel for employers to make repayment contributions.
For more on America Saves Week, follow Prudential on Twitter (@PrudentialNews) for daily savings tips and insights.
About Prudential Retirement
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Services include defined contribution, defined benefit and nonqualified deferred compensation record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee education and communications, and trustee services, as well as a variety of products and strategies, including institutional investment and income products, pension risk transfer solutions and structured settlement services.
With more than 85 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of 4.5 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $500 billion in retirement account values as of Dec. 31, 2019. Retirement products and services are provided by The Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA), Newark, N.J., or its affiliates.
About Prudential Financial, Inc.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2019, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.
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1 Aspen Institute, “Portable Non-Employer Retirement Benefits: An Approach to Expanding Coverage for a 21st Century Workforce,” 2019.
2 Prudential, “2018 Financial Wellness Census,” 2018.
